St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-25
The Executive Board Of the State ALI
anee Indorses a Memorial to Rail-
road Commissioners,
In Which That Body Says It Wants the
Long and Short Haul Clause
Enforced.
Reports From Eighty Counties on the
Money Handled by 0fficials--Bits
Of Local News.
AFTER THE COMMISSION.
Farmers Alliance Executive Com


Gen. L. I'll. Barrett, of Herman; Eric
Olson, of Sherburne; John Diamond, of
Mankato; III. Z. Boen, of Wall Lake
Thomas B.Hodgson, of Herman; Charles
Canning, of Henderson; E. III. Atwood,
of st. Cloud; G. w. Haigh, of Mankato,
and Andrew Richmond, of Saltwater,
| officers and members of the executive
| committee of the State Farmers ALI
ance, held secret session i'll room 2 at
the Merchants yesterday, Chairman
| Barrett presiding.
The object of the meeting is to con-
slider the interstate commerce law, pick
! out flaws in it and have them corrected
by the state railway commissioners.
| The members of the executive commit
tee did not seem opposed to the law,
but they thought it was weak
| in some respects and should be
braced up. The guns of the commit
tee will be 1eveled particularly
at the state railway commission,
who, Mr.. Barrett says, have failed to re-
| store to the former what the railway
companies have usurped. The long
and short haul clause is subject in part
to their dictati0n.
FL. e. Boen doesn't lean up against
the interstate commerce law very hard,
and took occasion to say the law was not
what it ought to be, and, as it now read,
was of no benefit to the farmer who de-
| ponds ON the markets in the cities of
Minnesota for his support. He claimed
that since the law went into effect the
farmers have been paying two-thirds
more on freights from st. Paul west
ward than they had paid before.
| A resolution was passed to the effect
that delegates should be sent from the
oil 70 hn 70 l. l,aII l.,
| the business men of MankatO June Z.
| The committee will call upon the state
| railway commissioners to bring about
| if possible, an established rate for all
| products.
A MEMORIAL DRAWN.
At the evening session, after much
| discussion, a long memorial was adopted,
| the substance of which is here given:
We respectfully request the Interstate
| railway commissioners to see to it that
the law regulating interstate commerce
be vigorously enforced in all the pro-
visions, especially that part relating to
the long and short haul. Of all the
great abuses which have grown up
under the management Of railways, as
lately conducted, none is more danger
GUS to the public welfare than discrimi-
| nation in favor of particular localities
| practically the same as discriminating
| among persons. Such business inter
estS as can be sustained only by reason
| of the suspension of section 4, it seems
to us ought not to be sustained at all :;
| for, in case of suspension, those places
| only could flourish for whose benefit a
I suspension is made, while all others
must necessarily languish. We urge
| also upon the interstate commission
| that they take measures for enforcing
equal and reasonable rates-it is absO-
lutely essential to the public welfare :;
that all persons have the right to use the
! public highways Of commerce and travel
| upon equal terms; that there must be
freedom of travel everywhere; that it is
necessary to public prosperity that the
rates shall be reasonable. as we'll as
equal. 1t is not reasonable to pay divi-
dends upon fictitious capital, nor is it
reasonable that railway officials shall
vote themselves enormous salaries out
OF the monies gathered up from the
people, while the men upon whom the
| lives and property Of the public belong
often in great extremities and peril
are paid meager salaries. We therefore
| urge upon the United States railroad
commission the propriety of considering
| the entire management of railway eX-
| penditureS, with a view to correcting
| gross evils, the effect of which goes
further than the mere expenditure of
dollars and cents. There is democrat
izing influence upon the people,
scarcely measurable, in the fact
that the salaries of the highest officials
in the United Stated are insignificant
| compared with amounts received by
railroad officials. While Gen. Grant
was serving the public for $50, 000- per
| annum as its president. certain rail-
road magnate is said to have received
| S175, 900 per annum as president of rail-
ways. A railway will pay one of its
attorneys more for few hours talk be-
| fore the supreme court of the United
| States than the chief justice of that
! august tribunal receives for years SER
| vice.
The memorial here infers that these
big salaries are produced by illegitimate
| gains, kept secret from the people, and
| partly because of rates levied to pay
| dividends upon fraudulent stocks and
inflated bonds. Then it proceeds to rub
| up the state railroad commission in this
wise.
THE STATE COMMISSION.
We call the attention of the railroad
commissioners of this state to the fact
that its citizens are being levied upon to
| pay interest upon nearly 500, Coos 900 of
fictitious capital. The last legislature
gigantic fraud. and now look to the
commission to relieve them from pay
ing such unreasonable rates amounting
to near S10,000,000 annually. The at
| tentiOn of the commission is also called
| to the necessity of enforcing the law of
| the last legislature entitled ian act to
provide for freedom of traffic" Senator
HiXon's bilD. Our great lake port and
other waterways must be open to access
from every part of the state without
| intolerance.
Attention is called to the resolutions
| passed by the last annual meeting of
the alliance, and the following rates per
100 pounds are recommended for wheat:
Over 20 and under 80 miles. 4 cents; over
| 30 and under so miles, 4l2 cents over so
and under 70 miles. 5 cents; over 75 and
under 100 miles, 5l2 cents; over 100 and
under $50 miles, Gig cents; over 165 and
| under 800 miles, 7l2 to 1919 cents; over 300
| and under 400 miles, 12l2 to 10 cents
The alliance further memorializes the
| executive of this state to the effect that
| the governor is responsible for the faith
| full enforcement of all laws, etc. 1t is
| gratified that there has been a Slight re-
with satisfaction ''the organization
| lately inaugurated by the business men
of Minnesota, who are at last awake to
the fact that their prosperity and the
prosperity of the whole people has been
sacrificed to support a tyrannical and
relentless combination of confederated
mOnopolieS which has sucked up the
resources of the people, and spread all
over the state network of forces which
degrade labor, bolster up high rates of
interest, initiate the cost of everything
the people buy, and depreciate every
thing they sell,'
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